AAP to decide on three candidates for Rajya Sabha

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is likely to hold its Political Affairs Committee meeting next week to decide on the three candidates it will send to the Rajya Sabha from the National Capital, highly placed sources within the AAP have told this newspaper. 

The Political Affairs Committee, the highest decision making body of the AAP, will meet on 4 January to decide and deliberate on the names that the party would send to the Rajya Sabha. 

According to sources, the AAP is looking for fresh faces from outside the party who would be more competent to speak in Parliament on behalf of the AAP. 

A senior AAP leader confirmed to this newspaper that at least two out of the three candidates will be from outside the party, and will come from fields such as economics, science, social sciences, etc.

The Sunday Guardian had reported last week about speculation over a former senior journalist, who had also served as a Cabinet Minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, being sent to the Rajya Sabha from Delhi. 

A senior AAP leader, who did not wish to be named, had also confirmed to this newspaper that the party was talking to him. 

However, speculation is also rife about senior AAP leaders such as Ashutosh, Sanjay Singh, and Ashish Khetan, as the other prospective candidates for the Upper House. 

On the other hand, founding member and senior AAP leader Kumar Vishwas, along with his supporters, is lobbying hard to secure a ticket to the Rajya Sabha. 

Earlier this week, a group of supporters from Kumar Vishwas’ team had camped outside the AAP office in Delhi to put pressure on the party leadership to give Vishwas a ticket to the Upper House.

However, according to party sources, the party is unlikely to give a ticket to Vishwas. Vishwas has been at loggerheads with the party supremos Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia since the party’s defeat in the Punjab Assembly elections and Delhi Municipal Corporation elections earlier this year.

Polls for the three Rajya Sabha seats from Delhi will be held on 16 January. The polls will happen after its three sitting members representing the Congress—Janardan Dwivedi, Karan Singh and Parvez Hashmi, retire on completion of their respective terms.